Your Bee Science Experiment
Bees in my Garden
Are there bees in your garden?
What do they do in your garden?
Which flower do they like best?
Why do bees go to flowers?
Is it food?
Is it colour?
Is it smell?
Is it patterns on the flower?
Let’s set up an experiment to find out.
First, we need a standard control flower. So, we will make one. Then we know all our flowers are essentially the same EXCEPT for the single parameter (colour or smell, etc.,) that we wish to test.
Have you ever noticed that some flowers are full of bees and some are not?
Aim: To find out why bees go to some flowers and not others.
Equipment: you will need
4 - Golf tees; these MUST all be the same colour and size.
4 - Paper patty papers; these MUST all be the same colour and size.
1 - table spoon of white refined sugar.
1 - table spoon of water.
1 - eye dropper OR a straw OR a used match
1 - blue or black marking pen (permanent ink).
1 - Lavender or Lemongrass oil (a few drops) OR a flower-scented oil or perfume (a few drops).
There are many different styles Golf Tee, do not worry just use four that are same shape and colour.
If you don't have a dropper you can use a drinking straw. Dip the straw into the liquid and then pinch the top end. The liquid will stay in the straw until you release the pinched end.
Bees See Flowers Not as we See Them
This daisy to human eyes appears to be white with a yellow centre. However to a bee's eyes it has a dark centre surrounded by purple landing guides. Here is the same flower seen with Ultra violet light so that we can see it exactly as a bee sees it.
Are landing guides important? We will make two flowers with and two without to find out.
Make a Bee Flower
Press a golf tee into the centre of the paper patty pan. Presto! You have just made an artificial (human made) flower. Repeat until you have four (4) artificial flowers.
You may have noticed some flowers seem to have “Bee landing guides”. On two of your flowers use the marking pen to make your own “Bee Landing Guide” marks.
With the pen number your flowers in sequence, 1 to 4, with numbers 2 and 4 being the “Bee Landing Guide” flowers.
We should now have two flowers that are plain and two with landing guide marks.
How to make Bee Food
Now we will make some bee food. Ask a responsible adult to boil some water and mix 1 table spoon of boiling water for you (sometimes they try to take over but be firm and keep control). You want 1 part water 2 parts sugar. Add one table spoon of white refined sugar. Get them to stir the mix until all the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the sugar syrup into a small clean jar or cup and allow to cool.
You have just made “BEE FOOD”. This what Bee keepers all over the world use to feed their bees in autumn before winter and in early spring.
Setting up the experiment in your garden.
Setting up the experiment in your garden.
In your garden choose a sunny spot. Place each flower about 200mm apart. Easily done by sticking the pointy golf tee end in the ground.
Bee Food
Using the dropper (straw or match) add two or three drops of Bee Food (sugar syrup) into the hollow of each golf tee. Rinse the dropper with fresh water when finished.
Bee Scent
Rinse the dropper (straw or match) with fresh water when finished.
Using the dropper (straw or match) add one drop of Lavender OR Lemongrass oil scent to ONLY Flowers numbered 1 and 2
Watch, Observe and Record
Now we need to have a Bee watch for a day or two. Any time that is sunny from 10am to 5pm should be ok as this is when bees are most active. Watch for half an hour and count bee visitors. Record the time of day and when you saw them.
Importantly Record what you see.
Time of Day
Which of your special Flowers did they go to?
How often?
How many bees?
Send your observations by clicking the button below or by email to: bees@beecafe.org
Honeybee Research
Here are some published science papers on research into how and why honeybees select flowers. If you want to learn more, copy the text below and a google search will find you the full research paper to read.
Avery L. Russell1* and Daniel R. Papaj, ARTIFICIAL POLLEN DISPENSING FLOWERS AND FEEDERS FOR BEE BEHAVIOUR EXPERIMENTS, Journal of Pollination Ecology, 18(3), 2016, pp 13-22.
María Pilar de Sá Otero, Emilia Díaz Losada & Sandra Armesto Baztán (*) Resumen: De Sá Otero, M. P., Diaz Losada, E. & Armesto Bazián, FLOWER ELECTION BY HONEYBEE AND FLORAL MORPHOLOGY, LAZ4ROA 25, 2004, pp 113-123.
Martin Giurfa and Josu A. Nfifiez, HONEYBEES MARK WITH SCENT AND REJECT RECENTLY VISITED FLOWERS, Martin Giurfa* and Josu6 A. Nfifiez, Oecologia, 1992, 89: 113-117